Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Green Piece - Northern Herbalism - Kiff 003 CD (1996)

Back with another steinful of jungle from Krautland, this time we head up to Hamburg for a 1996 LP written by the duo Green Piece, which consists of Malte "Waldmeista" Moller and Pari "K.U. Hetsch" Dee, appearing on the Label Kiff, which was active from 1994-2000 and tended to cater more toward the downtempo side of electronic music with releases in such genres as dub, electro, ambient, techno, synth-pop and breaks. The songs range from intelligent, lushly padded, Bukem style tunes to melodic, female vocal, amen-driven rollers. I wouldn't rate every tune very highly on a scale of memorability, but the few standout songs – "B Alone," "R.O.L. Part 1 + 2" and "TUC Mowth" – warrant being dropped in a mix every now and again, and render the rest of the album worth at least an occasional listen. Based on the sampling and the use of breaks atypical to most jungle, I'd say the producers were influenced by the acid and techno scenes present in their day, and that they were aiming at a production style crisscrossing but markedly divergent from that of their British counterparts. After listening through a third time, I'm left with the feeling of looking down a corridor that jungle might have travelled were its trail not fated to have gone cold after the first few footsteps toward a trend that might have been. Still, at least we're left with a dozen choice fossils to admire, and scant as it may seem, there's something to be said for that. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GOSVT61V